A Digital Master Builder?

"William Mitchell, dean of MIT’s school of architecture, framed the event by envisioning a future of “information-rich design worlds linked to fast, programmable construction machines.” MIT’s Media Lab is exploring design tools with unique interfaces; one of the most intriguing is called Illuminating Clay, which lets designers analyze free-form clay models. The model’s geometry is captured in real time with a laser scanner; using this information, computer simulations of conditions such as shadow casting, land erosion, or visibility are calculated and projected back onto the clay model. A designer can change the model’s shape and see the effects of those changes right away, which allows design options to be explored rapidly without having to type in data."